"Bang!"
Li Tai and the gold-mining ship were carried back by Pikachu and thrown heavily onto the deck of the Qingque.
"Gag... ugh..."
The poor boy's face turned green as he climbed out of the gold-mining ship.
He rushed to the edge of the deck, grabbed the railing, and spewed.
The up and down motion was incredibly nauseating!
Zhang Tian and the others piloting the fighter jets had not lingered outside for too long. Those black dragons were too alluring. After some live-fire target practice, they all flew back in unison.
"Fighter jet test completed, requesting to return to base!"
"Approved!"
Hearing their request, Fang Er immediately responded via the walkie-talkie.
He then turned and saw Li Tai still throwing up, so he walked over and grabbed him.
"Stop throwing up for a moment! According to your previous plan, have the fighter jets return!"
Li Tai: ...
Alright, there wasn't much left to vomit anyway...
"Ugh..."
Well, he still felt a bit queasy!
Leading Fang Er and Xi Tong into the command center, he began issuing a series of commands through the walkie-talkie.
"Clear the flight deck, guide the fighter jets to land!"
"Elevator on standby!"
"Technical personnel prepare!"
"..."
"Hole-hole-seven, you can land now!"
As this command was issued, Zhang Tian was the first to fly back, his fighter jet being number 007.
The fighter jet flew in from a distance, its speed gradually decreasing, and the distance between it and the Qingque also shrinking.
"Relative speed calibration in progress!"
"Speed difference 106, Qingque accelerates forward!"
"Speed difference 75..."
"23..."
"Relative speed ten, landing is possible!"
"Received!"
Hearing this series of numbers, Zhang Tian glanced at the group of black dragons flying to the left of the platform and gently manipulated the joystick.
The F-35 could land vertically, but the high-temperature, high-pressure airflow from the underside of the fuselage would severely affect the lifespan of the runway.
Therefore, what he was doing now was the last test of the fighter jet: a rolling landing.
When the relative speed between the platform and the fighter jet was small enough, this method should theoretically be easy.
The actual landing process was also as smooth as expected.
The fighter jet was towed back to the hangar for inspection and maintenance by technical personnel.
Such fighter jets were commonplace in Fang Er's hands; they were too light even to be used as projectiles.
Dozens of them had been discarded at the research institute before, and their technical knowledge was acquired from dismantling them.
Zhang Tian, like a gust of wind, rushed into the command center and saluted Fang Er sharply.
"Zhang Tian, Commander of the Fifth Division of the Skyfire Army, reporting to Duke!"
"Flying well."
Fang Er smiled and patted him encouragingly on the shoulder.
"Heh heh heh, then Duke, you see..."
Zhang Tian grinned foolishly, his eyes twitching uncontrollably as he kept glancing at the group of black dragons outside.
"Are your eyes sick?"
"Uh... no..."
"Then why are you blinking?"
"Duke..."
Zhang Tian was speechless at Fang Er's feigned ignorance; he had already made his intentions quite clear.
"Duke, those dragons... can I have a share?"
He didn't dare to ask directly and instead inquired tentatively.
"We'll talk about it after we get back!"
Fang Er waved him away. There were only seventy-three black dragons in total, and he didn't dare to give them away easily.
Seeing that he hadn't refused directly, Zhang Tian was overjoyed and nodded furiously.
Then he went to the side, poured a glass of water, and offered it.
"Duke, have some water!"
After that, Xue Rengui, Ge Luoyang, and others also came over one by one.
Their purpose was the same as Zhang Tian's: to get the black dragons.
However, without exception, they were all dismissed by Fang Er with the words "We'll talk about it after we get back!"
"Return to base!"
Li Tai finally felt a little better. After giving the order to return, he also came over.
"Mountain Master... Your Highness wants dragons..."
Fang Er frowned: "Don't even think about it!"
Given his nature, if the black dragons were handed over to him, they would undoubtedly end up roasted, fried, stewed, or braised...
Li Tai was so dejected that his lips jutted out enough to hang an oil pot.
Xi Tong saw this and immediately burst into laughter, pulling up a chair to sit beside him.
[Call me Madam Shi!]
Li Tai was stunned: "You? You want me to call you Madam Shi?? On what grounds!"
According to his understanding, Xi Tong was merely Fang Er's concubine, and how could she possibly have the status to be called Madam Shi?
Xi Tong didn't mind and instead smiled charmingly.
[Call me Madam Shi, and I'll give you a black dragon!]
Li Tai was overjoyed: "Greetings, Madam Shi!"
"Greetings, Sister-in-law!"
"Greetings, Sister!"
"..."
This fellow was truly willing to go to great lengths for the dragons, saying everything he could think of to foster a closer relationship.
Xi Tong was doubled over with laughter, covering her mouth and looking extremely happy.
Fang Er glared at her speechlessly.
This woman was better at winning people over than he was...
Damn it!
[Let's go, Madam Shi will take you to choose a dragon!]
After a while, Xi Tong winked provocatively at Fang Er, got up, and led Li Tai towards the upper deck.
Half an hour later, the Qingque space-air platform returned to the sky above the research institute and began to descend slowly.
It was already dusk. The enormous platform flew in from the west, with seventy-three black dragons circling around its sides, occasionally letting out a dragon's roar.
The dragon roars were high-pitched and ethereal. Whether it was people at the research institute or those near Bazhua Lake, upon hearing the dragon roars, they all instinctively came out of their houses and looked up at the sky.
Then, they witnessed this extremely shocking scene.
A few miles away, Li Xiaogong, Fang Xuanling, Du Ruhui, and Chai Shao were hiding in a large tree.
For them, the best part of the day was about to begin.
Well, the village girls should be coming out to bathe soon...
The dragon roar startled Li Xiaogong, making him shudder.
"Holy hell, what was that!"
He instinctively looked up towards the direction of the research institute.
"Dragon?? Dragon!!"
"Ouch..."
"Bang!"
"Hiss..."
The sight of the dragons dancing caused him to accidentally slip his hands, and he fell from the tree.
As for Chai Shao and Fang Xuanling, they were also staring at the sky in shock.
Only Du Ruhui seemed confused.
He couldn't get into the tree in his wheelchair and was buried in a pile of dry grass, with only his eyes able to see the small river opposite...
"Ninth Master, what's going on?"
"Damn! Ninth Master is going to see something exciting, let's go!"
Li Xiaogong got up from the ground, limped towards another grove of trees, and after a short while, he rushed out on a small electric scooter, heading towards the research institute.
"Damn it! There are dragons! Hurry up and go see!"
"Let's go, let's go!"
Fang Xuanling and Chai Shao scrambled down from the tree, one after the other.
Hearing their strange words, Du Ruhui, buried in the grass, was bewildered.
What was happening?
But seeing them run off and leave him behind, he suddenly came to his senses.
"Damn it, don't run off, take me with you!"